Sunday, April 17, 2011

I shouldn't be saying this, but the hash today was really to meet up with the Lord of the Hash Harriers, a truly scary and wondrous being. This innocuous sign shows the lair's entreance. it does not look threatening from a distance.

But not much further into the cave it looks like this. Is that a barely visible giant face you see over to the left of the picture?

Generally the Lord of the Hash Harriers only grants audience to the Hash Master and the Grand High Hash Constable. I did not push my luck, made an excuse, and left.

The group hides its nefarious purpose well and a passer-by would not suspect what hash harriers really are. They look normal. Surprise will be the key component when Hash Harriers strike quickly in future to achieve world domination.

The innocent-looking group under the breadfruit tree and around the Arch Cave park.

Getting down to business. The single minded harriers must go to assorted places every two weeks. They do this to assess their suitability for the future secret hash harriers' Jamaican national headquarters.

Here is the start of the route we took this afternoon.The locals must have suspected that we were up to something. They had a couple of pit bull dogs just over the brow of the hill. Fortunately the dogs were all roped up so we passed by without too much incident, this time. But we now know the dogs are there.

However to make the real estate even less attractive to us, they employed a secret weapon to make the property seem less desirable.

The piglets were quite smelly for their small size so we wouldn't set up base there. But otherwise note how relatively effluent free the pen is.

Our subsequent hash down the hill revealed where the effluent went. The locals were trying to discourage us from continuing to scout out the area. I believe my running shoes are relatively odor-free now. Don't worry Bunty, they won't be coming back to Canada.

The locals continued to keep an eye on us. Who would ever play a cricket game on a narrow road? Their little plan backfired when the ball was too enthusiastically hit into the jungle to the right . So they just had to stand around trying to look innocent. The cricket bats were home-made and must have been put together in a hurry. Very suspicious.

There should not have been that many young people out and about. The Poui tree says it all. Who knew trees could talk? Its beautiful blooms appear in April and June. It is a well-known fact in Jamaica that when the Poui tree blooms, the students should be inside studying for their exams.

Other trees have their points of interest too. In one of the trees, the locals planted a fast-moving Tody bird to spy on us like an aerial drone. Look at the tree below. Can you see the Tody? With my almost super-human reflexes and good eyesight I was able to catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared. This sounds like an excuse, but I would have caught it on my little point and shoot camera if I wasn't new to photography.

What's a Tody? Think of a beautiful iridescent humming bird. Think slow moving wings. Think a humming bird that needs to make a quick trip to weight watchers. Think of a creature with a voice that sounds like a crow with a sore throat.

In case you did not spot the Tody in my photo, here is a cut and paste from Y J Rey-Millett's photo that appeared in R Drennan's 1991 article "From Montego Bay to Bath. . .Jamaica is Birds, Birds, Birds."

And the flower of the day prize goes to the lobster claw flower.

Now you've been distracted by all these beautiful pictures taken around Arch Cave, you will be starting to forget what you read at the beginning of this blog. And that's OK with us.

The next trip will be to the Hollywell Recreational Park area over the Easter weekend to check it out for suitability. It's beautiful up there and we could take over the fine cafe near the Gap.

Unfortunately there are presently too many humming birds at the cafe. I suspect that they will distract us as we try to plot. This trip may not pan out. A second consideration is that the Lord of the Hash Harriers will be concerned that we are no longer within easy monitoring distance of its lair.

So that's it for tonight. In yesterday's blog truths were revealed, but today's blog was a wild trip down Imagination Lane. Or was it?

About Me

George is a volunteer with CUSO-VSO of Canada working with the Dispute Resolution Foundation and I am his spouse. This blog is about our lives here in Jamaica as we explore the countryside and learn about the politics and culture of this beautiful and extremely interesting country.